Facebook Inadvertently Releases an Amazing Competitive Research Tool

Jul. 30, 2018 //
Jeff Cracolici

Last week, Twitter announced that they lost over one million active US users from Q1 to Q2. However, this could actually be good for marketers. In Facebook land, the company released a tool meant to increase transparency, but will most likely be used more for competitive research. Finally, Facebook is bringing ads to their own Stories platform, and why this means you should be testing Stories ads on Instagram as soon as possible. Here’s The Latest.

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Twitter Q2: User Numbers Down as Efforts to Reduce Spam and Bots Take Effect

Twitter reported 68 million active, US users in Q2 of 2018. This is down one million from the prior quarter. A major causation of this slight decline was the deletion of millions of active accounts found to be created for spam or other misuse.

Our Take

While on the surface a million fewer active users sounds like shocking news, it could in fact be a net-positive for Twitter. A large problem with the marketing side of the social platform is that the impact of bots and spam accounts on their campaigns are unknown. Are ads being seen by actual people? With this purge, Twitter is taking the necessary steps to build confidence with advertisers and strengthen the platform for the long-run.

Want to See Your Competitors’ Facebook Ads? Here’s How to Do It

Facebook inadvertently released an amazing competitor analysis tool. Originally designed to give users insight into the source of the ads they are seeing, Facebook now publicizes all active ads an advertiser is running through a tab on the company’s page.

Our Take

It never hurts to see what your competition is actively doing, especially around peak times for your industry. We recommend compiling a list of five of your closest competitors and checking in every now and then to get a sense of their messaging, promotions and creative.

Facebook’s Bringing Ads To Facebook Stories, Expanding Reach Options

Facebook’s version of Stories, which is an ephemeral image/video sharing feature, is now going to have ads like Instagram’s Stories platform. This comes at a time where Stories on Facebook has been flat in terms of use. On a daily basis, posts to Facebook’s Stories platform is doing about a third of what Instagram’s Stories platform is doing, despite IG’s smaller user base. Facebook, who sees Stories as the new frontier for their ad business, is still wishfully hoping adoption will pick up.

Our Take

Of the three major social media platforms, Snapchat skews the youngest, followed by Instagram then Facebook. It’s not a coincidence that the disappearing image/video concept was born on the youngest platform and then was adopted strongly by the next youngest. At this point, the lack of use of Facebook’s Stories can be contributed to the older audience.

This said, marketers should be testing the Stories ad type now, specifically on Instagram. At the recent F8 conference, Mark Zuckerberg predicted that more individuals will be posting to Stories than the News Feed on Instagram, signaling a potential shift in how the app is used and developed going forward. When Stories takes off on Facebook, it is not farfetched to see the roadmap of Facebook to mirror Instagram’s.

Advertisers are going to want to have a great foundation of understanding in terms of what works and what doesn’t with this ad type. CPMs are going to go up due to demand, so be an early adopter and get in on the ground floor.